You are not wrong at all in this.
He and I had a ton of private talks when I was still on the OTC forums. Which was also before his meltdown here.
His problem was that he got addicted to the news cycle. When the news keeps telling you that shit is on fire, and you keep hearing it over and over again, you start to believe it.
He started basing his identity around that shit, so whenever we would point out the flaws in his arguments, he took it as a personal attack, because to him, we were undermining his identity/ self worth/ ego.
I had the same issue, and still somewhat do. I have to read everything, and dig out the facts. This is where he and I differed. He took it all at face value, I take it all as a lie until other sources can back it up. (Hell, if my wife tells me its sunny out, I immediately check the weather station to make sure it isn't raining)
The dude is cracked, and its a shame he can't see how cracked or how to fix it; but there is a great lesson in there.